


The Nuts Pile

by Deannie



Series: Two Gentlemen of Atlantis [3]
Category: Stargate Atlantis
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2005-08-17
Updated: 2005-08-17
Packaged: 2017-12-13 08:46:14
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 920
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/822349
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Deannie/pseuds/Deannie
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Another mission, another list...</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Nuts Pile

Rodney McKay looked at the impossible stack of files before him, and had an instant headache. 

He was back at the SGC now--and thanks for that, because the current four-month-long night in Antarctica was just as bad as the four-month-long day had been. He was supervising the team in charge of figuring out how to connect the ZPM to the gate, and the team was making amazing progress--thanks to his leadership, of course. But he still had a hundred other things to attend to, and all them were equally important. It was the curse of being _the_ expert in every field. 

Honestly, how was he ever going to get through all of these files _and_ complete the calculations for tying the ZPM in to the gate controls _and_ write up a manifest for everything that needed to come to the Pegasus galaxy with them _and_ orient the new science team that was currently taking over the Antarctica site _and_ make sure he had his apartment in order... 

_And_ find someone to take Fermi!? 

He sighed. Sharon down the hall had been looking in on Fermi while Rodney was in Antarctica, and now that Rodney was back, Fermi seemed to resent coming home. And Sharon loved the little guy. Hated Rodney, of course, but then he never said she had taste. Great legs, yes. Taste, no. She'd probably be happy to take the cat for good, without the baggage of having Rodney come back to claim him some day. 

One thing taken care of, but there was still this massive load of files to be sifted through; the grand game of Who Gets to Go? "Well," he mused to himself. "Might as well get started. The sooner I get them sorted, the sooner we can go." 

To the Pegasus galaxy. Rodney stopped to consider the wonder of it. But only for a moment. Files. There were files to go through. 

At least he didn't have to go through _every_ member of the expedition. The military contingent was Sumner's problem, and he was welcome to it. The medical staff was Carson's disaster to sort out. Huh. Carson was coming to Atlantis. _Willingly._ Would wonders never cease? 

Well this felt much more manageable, now that he thought about it. Thirty of the Antarctica scientists had declined to volunteer owing to family obligations or just basic sanity on their parts. That left Rodney with sixty people crazy enough to leave the _galaxy_ with absolutely no guarantee that they'd ever return. And thirty-eight scientists from the SGC had petitioned to join as well... which... 

Which actually put him pretty much right where he'd started when they headed _to_ Antarctica, then. 

The first file he picked up almost made him laugh. Yes. Rodney McKay was going, of course. "And he might just be the craziest of all of them." 

He closed his own file and placed it on an open space that he was dubbing the "Nuts Pile". 

Calvin Kavanagh? Definitely nuts. Also an idiot, a poor excuse for a human being... and a brilliant scientific researcher. He knew too much about Ancient engineering to be left behind--much as Rodney might want to do so. And why did it not surprise Rodney that the guy had no one to leave behind? To the Nuts Pile with him. 

Al Parsons... just wasn't coming. He was a nice enough guy and a passable computer programmer, but Peter Grodin and that Herdon woman had both volunteered for the trip and they were a hell of a lot better at the job. Parsons could stay at the Antarctic base and, probably, make some sort of minimal contribution. A space was cleared on the desk for the I Don't Think So Pile. 

Ji Soo... Nuts. Grodin, nuts. Farrar, definitely nuts (in more ways than one!). Willabee... I Don't Think So--too slow. Zelenka...? 

Zelenka took a little thought, honestly. Like Parsons, he was a nice enough guy. Quiet though. Way too quiet. He and Herder (or whatever her name was) _had_ finally cracked the deepest level of the Ancients' computer code, and Grodin had extolled the guy's virtues in some of the more basic engineering... Rodney shook his head. 

There was just no... _fire_ there. He was kind of a mouse of a guy sometimes. And while that was fine for a botanist or a geologist it just wasn't what Rodney needed in his engineers. If there was one thing the last few years had taught him (from reading case files, if nothing else) it was that sometimes, gate travel was really scary. Really difficult. Sometimes a decision needed to be made on the fly--and a scientist needed to have the conviction of his beliefs to follow through on a theory without worrying about pleasing other people. 

Zelnika struck him as a pleaser. 

Rodney sighed and stared at the guy's file. He _was_ good. Good in a way that Parsons wasn't. Good in a way that made Rodney think he might have the makings of one of those instinctive artists that could be so helpful in those silly life-and-death situations. Not that he thought there'd be many of those--and anyway, life-and-death situations gave him a rash. 

The file was still open on the desk in front of him. The engineer fit the bill: no family, no ties... He read Ancient as well as any of them did... 

One mouse wouldn't kill him, right? 

Zelenka's file went in the Nuts Pile, and Rodney kept sorting... 

* * * * * * *  
The End


End file.
